I skimmed above to see if this was said already, but a cool setting would be if we could specify some kind of parametric display name using a template.
So basically it would default to the file name, but templates can be something like {title} {date_created} or {first_h1} | {date_created} or something to that effect.
Into whatever direction this will go, the solution should not make the use of a yaml header mandatory. The current way it works is amazing exactly because it uses the information you have to give in any case (the filename) and reuses in at several occasions. I like it because it is simplistic and sets a low barrier within the workflow. Thus, what I like to see is the optional use of information from the yaml header in case it exists and a default mode that works just the way it works now.
As Icebear noted, we can get autocompletion of h1 by typing “[[##”.
It produces link in form “[[UIDfilename#readable header h1]]”.
Here is one existing syntax for displaying up-to date link-titles as link text (see examples):
http://markua.com/#smart-crosslinks-m-
It uses markdown links, easy to adapt for wikilinks.
Writing “[[|#t ” (including trailing space) could turn on autocomplete for title / h1 / first line / filename / headers … and return link in form “[[filename|#t]]”. (Maybe it could be just “[[|#” → “[[filename|#]]”).
Writing just “[[|” could turn on autocomplete / global search for all content in all notes and return link in form “[[filename|search text]]”
filename” corresponds to note selected from autocomplete suggestions#t” literal (or maybe just “#”)
|#t” added to link to specific header “[[filename#some-header|#t]]” transcludes corresponding header only, without showing current "filename > " prefix.search text” is literal text typed by user.If this existing concise syntax is not desired for some reason then alternatively syntax used in templates could be used.
Related existing functionality: aliases
+1 I would appreciate if the graph view could toggle between the real file name as the node name and one, or any, of the following:
aliases: myalias (from the front matter yaml)
title: mytitle (from the front matter yaml)
# My H1 Title (actual, markdown title)`
I think my personal preference is aliases if there can be only one, as I currently use this to make UID links more friendly in all my notes, where I find title to be redundant as I always include a “# title” in my notes, and any given note will only ever have one “#” level heading. I am unsure if title: is used by any core functionality at this time, but I find it redundant. So aliases is just my selfish pick.
Any of these would potentially make the graph useful for those using meaningless UIDs in zettlekasten style.
Also, thank you, Obsidian is awesome software.
Absolutely agree with that. For instance, through a setting could be used the first (or unique) alias to be shown at graph instead of UIDs And when alias is not present, then show UID (note name) as always.
BUT maybe using a Title field in YAML would add compatibility with Zettlr, for instance.
If I had to choose one, I would take Title method for compatibility aspects.
This is the only pending point that is stopping me to start dumping all my notes to Obsidian.
Add options to show [first header found in a file] [next-to or instead-of] a filename:
Position of the header might be limited to first line if unrestricted search for header in large files is infeasible.
purpose:
Allow naming files using only concise permanent ID,
while seeing (showing to user) up-to-date human readable description in all appropriate places.
consequences of not having titles in filename:
[[ID|note title]] instead of [[ID note title|note title]].keywords: addressing, ID, zettelkasten
EDIT:
I found, it was already requested in Use H1 or front-matter title instead of or in addition to filename as display name
Related feature request: Show title of Zettelkasten notes in graph view
+1 to this!
I’d like a set of fallbacks for this
Maybe the order should not be configurable so that the behavior is consistent.
Seconding on this, as already mentioned above my suggestion is to implement a title YAML tag to use in visualization-related scenarios instead of plain filenames. This solution is also compliant to ones adopted by other tools like pandoc and Zettlr, so it’s a step forward compatibility-wise too.
Plus, which YAML tags are supported should be documented in a dedicated page, maybe into an in-depth introduction about how front-matters work?
Thank you for your job!
yes this would be very nice
This would be really helpful! I use Zettelkasten IDs as file names in my vault. The introduction of aliases eased the pain of linking notes, but the graph and everything using file names as identifiers are still barely usable in this scenario.
Great suggestion. I’m Japanese, so I write the title of the note in Japanese.
However, I have concerns about the stability and flexibility of the file because the Japanese file names contain multiple bytes and contain NFD and NFC issues.
Being able to decouple the file name from the note title and attach a UID to the file name would eliminate these concerns.
That will be a great feature. For a Linux system, I prefer to follow “all lower case and underscore” as files’ name, while using H1 as a note’s title and link (so titles could include characters other than English characters).
related: Support underscores "_" in block-id
(useful when refactoring blocks to separate files and vice versa)
+1 !
I too would like to be able to use the YAML frontmatter title instead of the file name in the graph.
I feel that #title is the more natural way to use a document title.
Edit: To use the first line as Title might be problematic. For example, I have my tags in the first line.
@jMatsuzaki Please, do not forget to like the original post by pressing 
under it, since it is officially prefered method of voting according to FAQ.
quote:
Rather than posting
“+1” or “Agreed”,
use the Like button.
I’ve been thinking about this a bit, and I think the desktop app should mirror what Publish does.
For the time being I would suggest following hint to access your note titles:
If you access your notes primarily through search (like I do), and use top-level headings for the note title, you can enter your search query in the Obsidian search field wrapped in parentheses and prefixed by a hash symbol:
# (one OR two)
If you use YAML front matter, just replace the hash symbol with title:
title: (one OR two)
Make sure the “Collapse results” search option is deactivated. Obsidian will show you list of matching file names together with the first matched line, which will be the note title.
@austin Related request that would help to see context when the note is scrolled down:
@saf-dmitry great workaround in search. Thanks. Here is a modification:
“#” alone matches fragment identifiers in URLs so I match only # at line beginning.
Here is regex that matches and highlights whole title line:
/^(#|title:) [^\n]*/ to be followed by search string.
The regex can be put in by text expander.
Below is AutoHotkey script that automatically writes the hotstring into search field after pressing Ctrl+Shift+F:
; AutoHotkey code to prefix title matching regexbefore search string
#IfWinActive ahk_exe Obsidian.exe
~^+f:: ; Ctrl+Shift+F ; Find in Obsidian
Sleep, 100 ; maybe not needed
SendLevel, 0
Send, {LControl up}{RControl up}{LShift up}{RShift up}
Send, {Raw}/^(#|title:) [^\n]*/
Send, {space}
return
#IfWinActive
CSS snippet that can be tweaked to make highlighted titles easier to read:
.theme-light {
--text-highlight-bg: rgba(0, 128, 0, 1);
}
.theme-dark {
--text-highlight-bg: rgba(0, 128, 0, 1);
}